Jacoby Ellsbury stood on second base after hitting a leadoff double, and remained there when Dustin Pedroia hit a one-out double. This presented the very situation that had seemed to be of great interest to David Ortiz in recent days: Big Papi, who had mused in recent days that the Angels would never pitch to him in meaningful situations, stepped to the plate with a runner in scoring position and an open base. 

But Angels starter John Lackey showed no reservations about pitching to Ortiz (who has a career regular-season average of .333 with 2 homers against the Angels Game 1 starter). Lackey fired a first-pitch curveball that Ortiz fouled off, then got Ortiz to hit a grass-cutter to second (Ellsbury advancing to third) on a 93 m.p.h. fastball. (Ortiz hit .439 with a runner on second base during the regular season.) That positioned Lackey to escape the jam when cleanup man Kevin Youkilis, who hit .280 this year with a runner on third and two outs, grounded to third to end the inning.